This story was written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. I'm Chaser 3 for the Falmouth Falcons.

Falmouth Falcons Subject:

Care of Magical Creatures.

CHASER 3:

Write about someone preparing for or taking an exam in the subject.

OPTIONAL PROMPTS:

#7 (word) light

#8 (picture)

#11 (song) 'Afterlife' by XYLO

I underlined where I used the picture the first time.

Word Count:

2998 words

Context:

The story is set at the end of Draco's 6th year, and Luna's 5th.

Thanks to Sunne Sunne Sunne Sunne, Ari, Tiggs, and Mal for helping Beta. Special thanks to Sunne for helping me think of the title!

Thestrals can only be seen by those that have seen someone die. They are, therefore, thought to be a dark omen.

Numb. That was the only way he could describe how he felt. He was dead inside, cold, heartless, and afraid—hollowed out and left as a shell of himself.

There wasn't anyone that understood what he was going through. He would most likely fail this mission and get killed because of it. Maybe then, he would find the peace he so desperately craved. He had heard it—the afterlife—was a loving place. Nothing similar to the hell his life had become.

Life as a pureblood wasn't supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be a good life of red wine at fancy parties, wizards and witches with perfect teeth, perfect skin, fancy toys and too much money. Instead, with the rise of the Dark Lord, there was a new world war that had brought a string of bad luck to the once noble and ancient Malfoy family ever since they had become Death Eaters.

Draco was sitting in an alcove on the fifth floor—solitude clearly being what he sought—when Luna came across him.

Earlier, Luna had decided that instead of studying for her O.W.L. in Care of Magical Creatures, her time was better spent looking for Nargles. In her search for them, she had been drawn to where Draco was, but she didn't notice him. She was too busy drawing squiggly lines on a checkered piece of paper.

Draco—in his surprise—quickly got to his feet when she came close.

"Hello," Luna simply said when she noticed his abrupt movement. The light dress she was wearing flowed around her, swishing to and fro with her delicate movements.

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked and crossed his arms in front of him, slouching a bit.

"Studying."

Luna noticed something curious within Draco's eyes, so she moved up close to him. She ended up standing close enough to Draco that she could see her reflection in his eyes. The light streaming in from the window created a halo around her head. It was curious seeing herself that way, her hair glowing and seeming out of the world in Draco's gray eyes. Black pupil, gray iris, and white Luna glowing and disappearing out into the white sclera.

"Why are you so close?" Draco tried to push himself away from Luna, but she leaned closer to continue inspecting herself in his eyes.

"I look ethereal in your eyes," she mumbled, seemingly to herself.

Draco's pupils widened, making the contrast clearer. Then he pushed her away and turned his head. Luna was sad to lose herself in his eyes when he put an appropriate amount of distance between them.

"Weren't you busy doing something?" Draco asked.

"Oh, yes! I am trying to see if there is a pattern to the Nargles flying."

"The what?"

"Nargles." Luna showed Draco the piece of paper she had been scribbling on. She had gotten the paper from Hermione earlier when they studied together in the library. Hermione had tried to convince her that she would need to study for her O.W.L.s and that Luna needed to buckle down and get to it. Thinking about it made Luna's heart skip a beat and her stomach plummet as she continued to be in denial about her need to study. It was much more fun studying Nargles than studying the creatures that would actually be in her upcoming exam.

"Right." Draco's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. He seemed to hate what they were talking about but, for some reason, he didn't leave. She cocked her head to the side and was about to move further to see if she still looked the same way in his eyes, but Draco seemed to have lost himself in something. Maybe it was his thoughts or some errant feeling. All Luna knew was that his entire being changed in front of her. His shoulders slumped, he crossed his arms in front of him, and he looked to the floor—all of it a contrast to the poised and dignified way he usually kept himself.

"Have you seen any?"

"They're just a fantasy, Loony."

"You have to believe to see them," Luna answered, willing Draco to see the magnificent creatures. Draco wouldn't even look her in the eye, however, so how could he look up and see the way the Nargles played in the floating dust and light from the window. The light shifted to shine in a magnitude of colors. A rainbow gave the Nargles even more beauty to play in while displaying Draco as a proud boy living a very different life than her.

Luna tore her eyes away from Draco and the Nargles. Suddenly, it didn't seem right to be there any longer. She didn't say goodbye. She just left. She would never be like him.

Some people believe the Erumpent's horn is similar to the make-believe creature called the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. However, there is no proof that the latter creature actually exists.

Luna could feel her anger at the book start to simmer underneath the surface. Why would it mention the Crumple-Horned Snorkack just to belittle people who knew of its existence?

Draco stormed into the room, clearly not seeing Luna sitting cross-legged on the teacher's desk. He slammed the door and pulled out his wand and started blasting desks to smithereens. One by one, they blew up in a cascade of splinters and dust.

Usually, Luna didn't understand why you would break stuff when you were upset. There just wasn't any point to destroying something that could still be of use, but in this moment, she didn't care that Draco was destroying the desks. She just thought about the stupid book she was supposed to study, and how it had made a stab at people believing in things like Snorkacks and Nargles. So, instead of stopping Draco, she just put the book in his path of destruction and waited for him to blow it up.

When he yelled "Reducto!" the book flew apart to mix with the rest of the rubble. Luna couldn't help her squeal of delight when it happened.

"Loony!" Draco jumped back when he laid eyes on her. For a moment, they simply stared at each other, Draco breathing heavily, energy drained from his little rage out. Luna, on the other hand, seemed to be in a much better mood than when she had first entered the abandoned classroom.

When he had calmed down, she skipped over to him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks for helping me destroy that book," she said and looked deep into his eyes. She didn't look ethereal in them then, just a regular Luna Lovegood. She wasn't sad about it, things change—that is inevitable.

She simply skipped over to the door, picked up her book bag, and left Draco standing in the middle of a chaotic old classroom.

He stared after her and touched his face where she had kissed him. He could still feel the tingling sensation left by her lips on his cheek. Maybe, just maybe, he was wrong about her.

The Basilisk can kill with its eyes and has an impenetrable skin.

Luna read the line but didn't really pay attention as she walked down the corridor. Her mind was focused on the latest article on runes in the Quibbler. The article had been quite interesting, and she really wanted to continue studying runes with that in mind to see if she came to any new conclusions.

"I don't want your help!"

The voice cut through Luna's musings and made her slow down. The conversation was clearly private, but any other route to her dorms would take a while and she had left the Quibbler in her room.

Luna stopped around the corner from Snape and Draco were talking. The floor seemed to be empty besides the three of them since it wasn't long until curfew. The voices of the men echoed through the stone halls.

After arguing for a bit, Snape finally relented and left Draco alone like he wanted. Snape wasn't helping, he just served as a reminder of how much of a failure Draco was.

"I need a miracle," Draco mumbled and slumped to the ground. He didn't want the job anymore, but he was all out of luck. Nothing could help him now.

Draco was sitting in the deserted corridor, his back against the wall and his head in his hands. Steps echoed in the corridor out of the blue, and Luna approached his crumpled form.

"Are you ok?" Luna stepped out of the shadows and approached Draco. He looked up at her, his pupils widened, and his jaw went slack. He was surprised to see Luna, but at the same time, he almost felt happy.

"I—" Draco sighed. For a second, he thought about telling her. Maybe she was his salvation. At the last moment, he changed his mind and just said, "It's just been a long day."

Luna sat down next to him, tucking her book away in her purse at her side. She bargained with herself, calculating how much time she would need to take out of her sleep to finish her studying.

"You don't need to, you know."

Luna looked at him curiously when he said that.

"Stay with me," he clarified. "I'll be fine on my own."

Luna shook her head. "The stars clearly said I should not leave anyone alone tonight."

"The stars?" Draco looked out the window. Night had just rolled around, so he could almost see them now. "You're loony."

Luna did as she always would when she heard that- she ignored it. "We don't have to talk, you know. We could always just sit together in silence."

She braced herself for the rejection, all the while questioning why she was afraid to be rejected by someone like Draco Malfoy.

Rejection never came. Instead, they just sat there, neither talking or wanting too. After a while, Draco reached into his bag and retrieved something. "Here," he said and held out a tattered book for her to take. It took a while to recognize it and when she did, she didn't know if she should frown or smile.

Finally, she stopped staring at it and said, "You fixed it." She took the book from him as Draco blushed and mumbled something. "What was that?"

"I'm not as good at fixing things as I am at destroying them." He looked away from her while she inspected the book she loathed so much. Maybe it had been wrong of her to let it be destroyed. There are many books you disagree with, but why should you destroy them all?

"Thanks." She opened the book and began reading. She thought the conversation was over and missed when Draco said, "I'm sorry."

The words echoed in her brain, though, so she caught on eventually and gazed into Draco's downcast eyes to try to decipher them. They held no answers, only riddles she wanted to solve.

He was from a different world than her. She was from the other side—the poor side, like the Weasley's— she would never be like Draco. They were like two sides of a coin; so similar, yet so different. So, why did he apologize?

"I wanted to destroy the book, you know," she said. At last, she looked away from his eyes, to inspect his perfect skin all the way down to his neck where she could see him gulp.

"Don't you need it?" he asked.

Instead of answering, Luna said, "Why are you nice to me?"

"I'm not."

Luna scooted closer to him, and he looked at her strangely, but he didn't do anything. "You gave me back my book and you aren't insulting me," she pointed out, but she didn't comment on how close he let her get to him. It was nice being close to someone like that, and she didn't want to jeopardize it.

"I thought we didn't have to talk," Draco said and looked away again. Luna looked away and hid her smile at his response. They sat together like that until the chance of getting caught out of their dorm late at night become too great to risk. They left without a backward glance or another word.

The Augurey is also known under the name "The Irish Phoenix". During rainy weather, it moans a lot, which is why it isn't a popular household pet.

As she read the sentence, she sighed. There was just too much to study, and not enough time to do it. On top of that, Luna was all out of shoes since her peers had stolen every single pair she owned. She knew they would come back to her at some point, but right now, she was just sad. It wasn't one single thing spurring the emotion on, it was a myriad of tiny specks assembling to become a depressing picture.

She was spread out on the lawn, books strewn around her. She had put up a charm earlier to prevent bad weather interfering with her studying. It had been a good idea considering the rain that started to fall, but sadly, it hadn't helped her study in the slightest. She still avoided reading her books, too busy doodling on a piece of paper, mimicking the one she had done earlier, which detailed the Nargles' flying patterns.

Because she hid what she was doing, Luna seemed like the picture perfect student where she was lying.

Draco had come outside to be alone, hoping no one would follow him into the rain. Pansy had been particularly annoying lately. He hadn't bothered to figure out why.

For some reason, he had left his wand behind, and he regretted that now when he stood in the rain. Then he saw Luna in her protective dome and decided he'd join her instead of getting soaked in the storm. When he was around her, he could usually just ignore her craziness and focus on how much lighter he felt.

"Hi, Draco."

Draco faltered. How did she even know he was there?

"Hi, Luna."

If she noticed the change in what he called her, she didn't comment. She didn't even look his way, just continued to have her head down in her books.

Without saying anything else, he laid down on his back next to her and looked up at the rain hitting the charm she had placed to keep herself dry. The water almost soothed his melancholic thoughts, but, as always, they strayed to the impossible task he had ahead.

He couldn't see a way out of this mess. The miracle he needed was nowhere in sight. The idea he had earlier—that Luna could help him—disappeared when he realized how different they were.

"Want something to read?" Luna queried and pushed a newspaper towards him, but he stayed perfectly still and didn't accept her offer.

He didn't want to explain why he didn't want to read the news. The fact that it scared him and reminded him of who he was dealing with, was something depressing he didn't want to face. At the same time, he didn't want to go his usual route and insult her. It was strange, the feeling that accompanied the thought of saying something mean to the Ravenclaw was new.

"Why are you sad?" Luna asked him while looking at him with those big sad eyes.

"I'm not."

Draco didn't need her sympathy. He just needed to get away from it all- maybe go on a holiday. It was a mistake sitting down with her. He didn't even understand why he had done it in the first place, but he had a sinking feeling it had something to do with the hatred he dealt with on a daily basis. It was simpler sitting with Luna, almost like he was loved.

He shook his head and rose to his feet. What a stupid thing to imagine, needing love and not money.

"Draco?"

"I'm bad luck," was all he said before he left her alone there. He knew he needed to stay away from her from now on.

The Phoenix is believed to have been granted eternal life. It burns to ashes and then rises from it again, emerging a baby chick beginning a new life cycle.

Luna was too busy studying to see the way Draco looked at her. If she had, it probably wouldn't have made a lick of difference. Draco had already made up his mind.

Draco had come to the conclusion that someone like Luna couldn't possibly care about him. His happiness could only come from completing this task. So, win or lose, die or survive, he would step into the vanishing cabinet and see if it brought him to Borgin and Burkes, or the afterlife.

Luna had finally found that serenity that comes with buckling down and studying at a good pace. She sat cross-legged at the Ravenclaw table, reading three books at the same time. Normally, she would attract glares from her peers when she did something strange, but for the Ravenclaw table, her behavior was considered normal.

Being so at peace, she didn't notice Draco leaving the Great Hall but, for some reason, she felt a shiver run down her spine when he crossed out into the Entrance Hall. She looked up from her books for the first time in 2 hours, her eyes scanning the room, but she couldn't find what caused her to feel so uneasy.

When her eyes landed on the Gryffindor table, she made eye contact with Neville Longbottom. He smiled at her, and Luna blushed, the peculiar feeling from before vanishing behind a veil of her emotions. Suddenly, she couldn't finish studying fast enough, in the hopes that she might be able to spend some time with Neville.